The Portland daily press., 1887-03-30
CONCERNING BOOKS.
BY Il. CAvAZZA.

The force, authority and charm Of DIR. An
drew Z. Peabody's lecture upon Moral Phil
osophy are ilcommunicable by means of any
review. Each lecture and each paragraph,
complete in itself is yet an essential part of
system OF ethical science SO closely connected
and logically developed that it is difficult to
consider 1t except as whole. There are no
inequalities that afford foothold for COM
mentless than applicable to the work in its
entirety. No philosophy could more nearly
approach the ideal definition given by DAN
te-''the living use of wisdom" Dr. Pea
body considers fitness to be the synonym and
test of right; and in his consideration of the
Divine nature as well as of the human en-
ploys this test to correct or fortify prevalent
theories. There is fitting and an uniting
use of everything, and the distinction rea-
sonably not morbidly made between these
two uses, is the line which divides good from
evil. Upon this basis he constructs or rath-
er infers, a system of ethics so large, so di-
vinely human that its conviction and charm
are irresistible. An essential trait Of DR..
Peabody's teachings is the exquisite courte-
sy and liberality, as far removed from the
unlovely asceticism of the Puritan theology
as from the unholy pessimism of modern
semi-philosophy. Yet even for these wan
dering sad spirits, DR.. Peabody finds char
table hope in the fact that ''Men are wont to
have a heart-faith better than their professed
belief
Apropos of the interesting paragraph in
which DR.. Peabody indicates the history of
Ito1f
passage from the Convito of Dante Il. 81
affords a striking parallel to the use of fit
ness and right as interchangeable terms.
Everything is virtuous in its nature" says
Dante, 'that does that to which it is or
dained, and the better it does it. the more
yirtuous it is; hence we call virtuous man,
him who lives the life, contemplatiye and ac-
tive, to which he was ordained; we call the
horse yirtuous which runs fast and far, to
which thing he is ordained; we call sword
virtuous which cuts hard things we'll, to
it is ordained"
Dante, standing upon the threshold of a
new epoch, spoke the last word of the me-
diaeval and the first word of the modern, con-
corning many things. With the strange re-
viyed classicism of the Renaissance standards
and expressions changed and virtue, still re-
tanning its meaning of fitness, returned to an
ideal of virtue, which resembled that of the
old Romans in the same kind and degree
that their civilization was initiated by the
Italians of the Renaissance. Machiavelli's
definition of cirtae was proves and intel
lectual ability much tempered by vir-
tue as Dante and DR.. Peabody would define,
history can show. In the ciRQue-cento, the
irrepressible vitality of Benvenuto Collini
was the embodiment of rirtue. Virility,
| mental and muscular. rather than that of the
spiritual statue of the manhood of Christ
was, 1t must be confessed, the virtue of the
Italians of the Renaissance. Yet, confused
| as were the ideals which it expressed, the
word cirtue never really forsook its meaning
OF fitness; not even when, in the earlier years
Of our own century, it was the fashion to
call yiolinist, singer, an actor rirtuoso,
precisely as it is at present the fashion to
| speak of ARTISTS" and "renditions." The
| justice of Dante himself would have accord
ed the adjective to the player who acted well
his part, or the musician who proved his
| mastery of his violin, for to that he was or
dained, sand the better he does it the more
virtuous he is. So that the noble first mean
ing, and that which regards capabiity and
taste, are after all united indissolubly in the
mutual dependence of fitness and beauty.
Another Of the many ''living uses" to
which DR.. Peabody turns his wisdom is in
the large sympathy which he has with every
sentient creature, with dumb animals and
even the unconscious life of the flower and
leaf. He cannot "think it without meaning
that in the prophetic pictures of a regenerat-
ed world, mans humber co-tenants always
have their part in the universal peace and
gladness." he finds an original impulse OF
goodwill at the root of even barbarous Gus
toms; and his wise optimism is of the prac-
teal and inspiring quality that helps the ac-
complishment of its own hopes. From the
volume of lectures, each reader will derive
the philosophic teaching which he individu-
ally, may most require; and in the limits of a
brief review, it is possible to express only in
general terms, admiration for work which
contains the rich results of profound learD-
ing and experience and the perfect charm OF
a rare and potent personality. Boston: Lee
& Shepard; Portland: Loring, Short g. Har-
| mon.)
1t is not probable that when Mr.. Story
went to Rome in 1856, and began to write the
notes of his impressions which make up his
charming Roba di Roma, he could have ex-